SUGAR CANE Saccharum sp

Six species of perennial grasses all of which originated in old world. Of these six two are occurring in a wild state. They are S.spontaneum with a wide distribution from North East Africa thro Asia to pacific. S.robustum confined to New Guinea and neighbouring islands. The other four species are cultigens 1. S.officinarum - Noble cane of New guinea. 2. S.barberi - North Indian canes 3. S.sinensis - Chinese cane. 4. S.edule - Melenesian cane. Systematics, origin and distribution 1. Saccharum spontaneum (2n = 40 - 128) A perennial grass, free tillering, often with Rhizomes. S.spontancum represents a polyploid series. Forms with the smallest chromosome numbers are found in North India which is probably the centre of origin. Natural hybridization with S.officinarum would have produced S.barberi and S.sinense S.spontaneum is widely used in breeding of modern commercial hybrids by a process of nobilisation with S.officinarum. Spontaneum provides vigour, hardiness and resistance against diseases. 2. Saccharum robustum : (2n = 60 - 194) Origin New guinea vigorous perennial. robustum would have given rise to S.officinarum with which it is interfertile. S.robustum is highly susceptible to mosaic virus and leaf scale and because of this its use in breeding programme is very much limited. 3. Saccharum officinarum (2n = 80) Origin : South pacific. Chewing cane. Noble cane This cane is suited to tropical conditions and requires favourable soil and climate for its performance. The stems are stout thick high in sucrose, low in fibre and with soft rind. The noble canes are susceptible to most of the diseases. Some of the earlier cultivars are Bourbon, Cheribon, noble canes. 4. S. barberi 2n = 82 - 124 S.barberi is short medium to slender in thickness, with high fibre content, medium sucrose content and poor yielder. 5. S.sinense : (2n = 18) Chinese cane. Tall vigorous, slender, high fibre content. Poor juice quality. 6. S.edule : Polynesian cane (2n = 118) Slender, weed like form. Seeds are edible. Not much used.

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Nobilisation in Sugar cane. Nobilisation is crossing the noble cane S. officinatum with S.barberi, S.spontaneum and infusing disease and pest resistance in the noble cane. The first successful use of nobilisation was made and variety cheribon was crossed with S.barberi variety and progenies having resistance to sereh disease were evolved. But they were susceptible to mosaic and inferior in sucrose content. By subsequent crossing with S.officinatrum i.e. second and third nobilisation good varieties like POJ 2878 were evolved. In India, nobilisation of local spontaneum was begun by Barber and Venkata raman in 1912 at SBI Coimbatore. At coimbatore crosses were initially made between local strains of S.barberi (Which is unproductive but adapted to climates of North India) and tropical noble cane (thick soft stem, high sucrose content but unsuited to climates of North India). Later on by crossing these resultant hybrid with wild cane S.spontaneum canes with high sucrose content suitable for North India were evolved. In this way a large number of tri hybrid canes were developed. Breeding objectives. 1. Breeding varieties suitable for Jaggery making. Co 853, Co 62175, CoC67 2. Breeding varieties for factory purposes - high Brix value and recovery %. Co 658, Co 772, Coc 8001 3. Breeding varieties suitable for all the three seasons Early - Dec - Jan Mid - Feb - March Late - April - May. 4. Breeding varieties resistant to shoot borer. 5. Breeding varieties resistance to disease shoot disease, Rust, Brown spot. 6. Breeding varieties with high ratooning ability. 7. Breeding varieties with drought resistance. 8. Breeding varieties with more number of productive tillers. 9. Varieties with shorter duration without yield less. COC 671 Sugar cane varieties for Coimbatore :

Early Mid Late Special Factory Jaggery Factory Jaggery Factory Jaggery COC 90063

COC 91061 COC 91061 COC 776 COC 774 Co 740 Co 8201 Co 8021 Latest variety COC 99061 (Co 6806 x Co 740) Suitable for mid and late season.

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